ABSTRACT
In the ideological trend of Westernization of the 1980s, some intellectuals regarded Chinese civilization as a "yellow earth civilization", the "Yellow River civilization" (Huanghe wenming), or simply a "yellow civilization" (huangse wenming), in contrast to the "blue civilization" (weilanse wenming) or the "oceanic civilization" (haiyang wenming) of the West. Quite a number of works of literature and art, such as the film Yellow Earth (Huangtudi), touched on the issue of the "yellow earth civilization", but it was R iver Elegy (Heshang), a television political commentary series, which was broadcast on Beijing's Central Television Station beginning on 11 June 1988, that gave rise to much controversy.
